Michael A. Atamian

Division Manager

Dr. Atamian joined Metron in October 1997 and now manages the Operations Analysis and Simulation Sciences (OASiS) Division. He has oversight over all technical development, production, marketing, sales, contract management, and personnel management in OASiS.

Dr. Atamian has provided technical leadership in designing, implementing, testing, and employing modeling and simulation (M&S) tools. His work at Metron has included several high-visibility studies using the Naval Simulation System (NSS) and derivative simulations in the areas of electronic warfare/cyber, information operations, command and control, air defense, anti-submarine warfare, Information, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) analyses, naval surface fire support, communications architecture and assessments, and ship survivability. His current area of interest is in the employment of adversary-centric M&S to better understand capabilities and countermeasures. Dr. Atamian currently directs the efforts of analysts working at Pacific Fleet, Navy Warfare Development Command, Chief of Naval Operations, Assessments (N81), the Missile Defense Agency, and a core group of operations research analysts and software developers in San Diego, CA.

Prior to becoming Division Director at Metron, Dr. Atamian led several projects. He was a co-designer of a planning tool, which utilized optimization techniques to generate a draft Master Air Attack Plan for naval and joint strike planning. Dr. Atamian was the lead analyst for a network-centric study commissioned by ADM Archie Clemins (COMPACFLT) in 1998. He briefed the results of this study, one of the first network centric studies to utilize M&S, to both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. From 2000-2005, Dr. Atamian was the lead Metron analyst on the Lockheed Martin DD-21/DD (X) and USCG Deepwater programs. Dr. Atamian helped develop land attack, air defense, command-and-control, and weapons employment algorithms within derivative models of NSS.

Dr. Atamian came to Metron from the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), where he had just completed a tour (1996-1997) as Field Representative to Carrier Task Force 70 (CTF-70) aboard the USS Independence, home ported in Yokosuka, Japan. He spent significant time working with USAF/USA planners on the Korean peninsula, and his work culminated in the first successful tests of satellite Link-11 architectures between USN/USAF command sites in this theater. Dr. Atamian also was involved with projects relating to Air Tasking Order (ATO) apportionment. From June of 1994 to July of 1996, Dr. Atamian was the CNA field representative to both the Navy Fighter Weapons School (NFWS, popularly known as "TOPGUN") and Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School (CAEWWS). Dr. Atamian helped to develop fighter and AEW tactics to counter a number of threats. His work on the AIM-120A AMRAAM "valid-shot" matrix became part of TOPGUN's live training and was incorporated into the F/A-18 Tactical Manual. Dr. Atamian also developed simulation models that allowed for investigation of USN fighter tactics against Soviet and Third World threats. His results were used to refine tactics and to update the TOPGUN training curriculum.

From late 1990 - 1994, Dr. Atamian was a member of the research staff at CNA in Alexandria, VA. He was a co-author on a document analyzing the effectiveness of Link-11 operations during Operation Desert Storm. He also authored or co-authored several research documents on new tactics for medium range antiair warfare. His work with the JADO/JEZ Joint Test Force on surface-to-air fratricide was cited as a "rule-of-thumb" for deploying battlegroups.

Dr. Atamian has been cited for his analytical work for the Navy and to Industry. On 7 June 2005, he received a Letter of Appreciation from VADM J. A. Sestak, Jr., Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, Warfare Requirements and Programs (N6/N7) for his support to a classified Information Operations Modeling Study. He also received a Letter of Commendation from Mr. Carl P. Bannar, Vice President, Technical Operations, Lockheed Martin Corporation, which stated that “[Dr. Atamian] is one of the most dedicated, highly professional, technically proficient, tactically competent, and capable Operations Analysts we have observed from any subcontractor.”